Perhaps one of the most poignant stories of a rich person’s sacrificial giving gone awry is found in the account of the life of the great Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy. In his attempt to live out the lifestyle he believed that Jesus prescribed, this extremely wealthy man sold his vast farmlands and gave all of the money to the poor. Later he found that those who bought his property exploited the peasants who formerly worked on his farms. Now, these poor workers were not only underpaid, they were abused in almost every conceivable manner. All of this led Tolstoy to ask himself if following the simple words of Jesus had not brought about a great evil.
Tony Campolo, Following Jesus Without Embarrassing God (Dallas: Word Pub., 1997), 12.